VLC in ubuntu 23.04 broken [fixed after fontcache delete and rebuild]

snap
#1

For both the beta channel and the stable channel, vlc does not launch. When run from a terminal:

tim@yellow:~$ vlc
VLC media player 3.0.19 Vetinari (revision 3.0.18-206-ga7d9910e78)
[0000561163b55a00] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
Warning: Ignoring XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland on Gnome. Use QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland to run on Wayland anyway.
Qt: Session management error: Could not open network socket
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object weight does not accept value [0 205)
Segmentation fault (core dumped)
tim@yellow:~$
#3

Vlc does obviously automatically switch to xorg (XWayland) in the above output (just telling you you can override it with setting the variable) this is a normal message


It looks more like the font issue is causing the segfault


What distribution is this happening on, what is the full output of snap version ?

#4

it’s ubuntu 23.04

tim@yellow:~$ snap version
snap    2.59.5
snapd   2.59.5
series  16
ubuntu  23.04
kernel  6.2.0-20-generic
tim@yellow:~$

I’m on snap beta because I was helping to test and report on the snap ‘automatic’ update.

#6

In case someone is working on this, which would be cool, can this snap also be bundled with ffmpeg v4? I also found out that vlc does not support vaapi decoding with ffmpeg5. The VLC flatpak bundles v4 and hardware decoding works on my tigerlake CPU.

#7

It does and tells you about it


Warning: Ignoring XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland on Gnome. Use QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland to run on Wayland anyway.

You can try to force wayland by setting the variable though


#8

This is what I am trying to talk about: <video-file>

How to upload a video file here?

#9

I tried it again on a vanilla 23.04 distribution just now, and it worked. va-api is available too. Thi sis a VM and the session is wayland. Yet on my laptop it crashes the same.

QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland vlc

crashes with the same message, including the message to use that environment variable setting.

THe message on the working install does not include the Fontconfig warning. This is the working install:

tim@vm1:~$ vlc
VLC media player 3.0.18 Vetinari (revision 3.0.18-0-ge9eceaed4d)
[000055ec4badaa00] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
Warning: Ignoring XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland on Gnome. Use QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland to run on Wayland anyway.
Qt: Session management error: Could not open network socket
[000055ec4bb7c080] main playlist: playlist is empty
#10

These instructions here (delete and rebuild font cache) fixed the issue:

6 Likes
The snap version of vlc doean't work
#11

I am talking about the vlc-4.0.0dev version.

#12

why ? this topic is obviously about 3.0.19 
 (4.x is in development since years if i remember correctly 
 not sure how it is relevant to the issue)

#13

Sorry about this again. I was trying to highlight that issue also.

#14

Thanks! I got this same issue, and fixed the same way, but why a user should have to use does commands to fix the problem? since uninstalling and installing again didn’t fix the problem, a “regular” user may find that hard to fix. :frowning:

1 Like
#15

I confirm that “resetting” fontcache fixes the issue for me.

$ snap version
snap    2.59.5
snapd   2.59.5
series  16
ubuntu  23.04
kernel  6.2.0-23-generic

$ snap info vlc
name:      vlc
[...]
snap-id:      RT9mcUhVsRYrDLG8qnvGiy26NKvv6Qkd
tracking:     latest/stable
refresh-date: 2023-04-18
channels:
  latest/stable:    3.0.18                      2022-10-28 (3078) 336MB -
[...]
installed:          3.0.18

From (it segfaults):

$ vlc
realpath: /home/claudio/MĂșsicas: No such file or directory
/usr/share/libdrm/amdgpu.ids: No such file or directory
VLC media player 3.0.18 Vetinari (revision 3.0.18-0-ge9eceaed4d)
[00005569e7bd2a00] main libvlc: Executando o VLC com a interface padrĂŁo. Use 'cvlc' para usar o VLC sem interface.
Qt: Session management error: Could not open network socket
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object weight does not accept value [0 205)
Falha de segmentação (imagem do nĂșcleo gravada)
#16

I faced the same issue. Tried reinstalling and reseting vlc. Recently came across this video solution. This method worked for me. :slightly_smiling_face: Video: Fix VLC not opening inn Ubuntu

1 Like
#17

I faced the same issue on Ubuntu 23.10, and I can confirm the thread posted from @timattrn works. Thanks!

As @edurojas said, a “regular” user shouldn’t face this issue with a snap, more when reinstalling the snap doesn’t fix it.